I'm not sure whether it was my nightmare that woke me up or a real sound that seemed like glass shattering coming from the kitchen. Either way, I find myself awake. I can tell it's not morning just by he very aura of the room. And when I glance out the bedroom window there's still stars in the sky.
Moaning, I run my hands down my face and sit up. I look next to me. No Josie.
It's probably something I should just shrug off. She probably had to go to the bathroom or something.
Completely satisfied with my reasoning, I plop back down into the pillow to try to go back to sleep.
But then I hear it again. Shattering glass. This time, I know I'm not dreaming. I sit up slowly and staton my hearing.
"... Can't... Gen... Mom!"
Those are the only words I can catch. Biting my lower lip I carefully swing my legs over the bed. It creaks underneath me. Moving slowly and conscious of every move I make, I head to the entrance of the room and try to listen from there.
"No, Mom, put the cigarette down. That won't help either; it'll just ruin your lungs."
Muffled sounds follow.
I furrow my eyebrows. Against what is probably my better judgment, I peek into the hallway to see if I can find a better place to... Ummm... Figure out what's going on.
Not catching sight of Josie or Aunt Cassie, I slip out into the hallway and creep down to the end of it.
"... and confused!"
Aunt Cassie's quiet voice becomes easier to hear as I inch closer to the kitchen. She sounds as if she's the teenage daughter who just got caught by her mom... Instead she's a mom being interrogated by her teenage daughter.
"Why?" comes Josie's hesitant reply.
Silence follows. For so long not a word is spoken. I get the paranoid feeling that they had heard me.
Then Josie asked again, more desperate this time.
"What did they say? Mom, are you sick with something?"
My eyes widen and I find myself holding my breath, really scared by now and not fitting any pieces of this puzzle together.
Sick?
Dear God, please no, I can't take more cancer right no-
"No, Josie, I'm not... I'm not... I'm not sick."
The air loosens and then tenses again all at once.
"Then... Wha..."
A sudden gasp escapes Josie and seems to echo off the walls of the house.
"Mom..." she whispers, so soft, I almost can't make out the word.
"Josie, now listen-"
"I'm so done with you," Josie grunts, fury and hurt swelling in her voice to make a most unpleasant sound.
My conscience begins knocking and telling me to quit eavesdropping but my feet are glued to where I am.
"Josie,-"
"You drown your hurt and apparently your guilt in all the wrong things. I try to help you. Why do you think we're living like we are Mom?"
"We don't need a mansion in order to be-"
"I don't want a mansion but I want something better than this dump."
Silence. And then Josie asks a question I didn't think I'd hear.
